asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware that certain Irishmen, Officers of Customs and Excise, transferred in or about March, 1922, from the British to the Saorstát Service, having, as the result of an official intimation and invitation, volunteered so to transfer and having, it is stated, been promised the consideration at a later stage of the question of their removal expenses; whether he is aware that such question, in spite of repeated representations to his Department on their behalf, was never subsequently entertained, and the officers, ten or twelve in number, consequently suffered serious financial loss; whether later volunteers in far greater numbers had their removal expenses defrayed in full; and whether he does not think that the claims of these men should receive sympathetic attention forthwith.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - TRANSFERRED OFFICIALS' EXPENSES.
This question refers to certain cases of transfers which were effected in March and April, 1922, while the Customs and Excise Service in Great Britain and Ireland was being administered as a whole by the Board of Customs and Excise, London. It may be observed that there was no separate Saorstát Service at the period mentioned. These transfers were made within the then United Kingdom Service at the request of the officers concerned, and were subject to the condition, applying to all transfers made at the transferees' own request, that the expenses of removal would be borne by the transferees. This condition is not affected by the scheme subsequently drawn up for the allocation to the Saorstát of portion of the staff of the United Kingdom Customs and Excise Service. At the time — December, 1922—when effect was given to this scheme, the officers referred to in the question were serving in the Saorstát area. There are no grounds on which payment of removal expenses in these cases could be justified.